Table of contents for 2022-06-07 in Cape Times

From page 1 which was under threat if the development was allowed to proceed. Last month, Judge Goliath dismissed the LLPT, the City, the Province and the First Nations Collective (“FNC”) applications for leave to appeal with costs, stating that she was not convinced there were reasonable prospects that an appeal would succeed. The development is set to accommodate tech giant Amazon as an anchor tenant. The LLPT had in 2019 proposed the construction of several 10-storey buildings in the middle of a 100-year-old flood plain. The site was regarded as sacred by indigenous communities and accommodates seasonal migrating birds, and indigenous flora and fauna. In a statement yesterday, LLPT trustee and spokesperson James Tannenberger said: “The LLPT’s application emphasises that when granting this order, which halted construction on the…

THE killing of police officer Siyakubonga Mphakathi in Philippi was planned, says Police Minister Bheki Cele. He made the comments when, along with police top brass visited the slain officer’s family in Mfuleni yesterday. The 49-year-old Mphakathi attached to the Saps Rapid Rail Unit, was driving towards the Philippi railway station when he was shot through a window by unknown suspects. Cele said the latest crime statistics indicated that 27 police officers were killed in the first three months of this year. “There are things that we do when a member dies on duty. We walk with the family till the last day. We’re told that the funeral will be in Cofimvaba in the Eastern Cape and we would love to be there. “We will continue to find out what…

CAPE Town opera sensation Lonwabo Mose will showcase his talent as a dramatic baritone to an international audience after being awarded a scholarship to study at the prestigious Saluzzo Opera Academy in Italy. Mose, 22, from Gugulethu auditioned for a company known as South African Opportunity, landing a role in an opera production. He was advised to audition for the Berlin Opera Academy in Germany after his successful audition, and it landed him a spot at the Saluzzo Opera Academy. “I feel honoured to have gotten this opportunity, I am hoping to get spotted there and be told there is a place for me to work. I am very excited. “Growing up in Gugulethu was not easy. One has to be tough at a very young age. Whenever I…

THE Western Cape Education Department (WCED) has refuted claims that the Bloekombos Secondary School community in Kraaifontein was forced to welcome a new acting principal yesterday. The department had dismissed principal Ntombi Goniwe following charges of misconduct. The school has been faced with multiple challenges including feuds between the School Governing body (SGB) and Goniwe who accused each other of financial mismanagement, tender-corruption allegations and counter-allegations. Last year Goniwe was under police protection following death threats and after allegedly being followed by a car. The WCED also had to request police to provide routine patrols for her safety and security. “The dismissal came as a shock to us as the SGB. The department did not only fail to formally engage with us about the matter but also the parents.…

We are all making significant changes to the way we live so that we can reduce our environmental impact. The products we use, how we travel, and even what we eat are all decisions that need to be made with sustainability in mind. As we celebrated World Environment Day on Sunday, we need to deepen public awareness of the need to preserve and enhance the environment. While as individuals we should all be doing our bit, change of course largely needs to be driven by governments and organisations. Thanks to the Green Deal in 2019, individual nation states and the businesses operating within them are now obliged to step up in the fight against climate change, and meet the EU’s pledge of becoming the first carbon neutral continent by 2050.…

Survivors of an attack by unknown assailants on a Roman Catholic church in Nigeria lay weeping and writhing in pain at a local hospital yesterday after suffering what a doctor described as lacerations, bullet wounds and blast injuries. At least 50 people including children were killed, according to reports, during the attack on St Francis Catholic Church in the town of Owo, which took place during Sunday mass as worshippers were celebrating the Christian holiday of Pentecost. Police have yet to release a death toll. “Immediately they entered and started firing everywhere, so many people,” said Alex Michael, who was shot in the leg while protecting his children by hiding them under chairs. He appeared dazed as he sat on his hospital bed. Around him were other survivors, many with…

THE death toll after a ferry sank in Indonesian waters rose to 19 yesterday, after a 10-day search-and-rescue operation was called off, authorities said. The KM Ladang Pertiwi ran out of fuel and sank in bad weather while sailing through Indonesia’s Makassar Strait in South Sulawesi province on May 26. News of the accident only reached officials two days later, prompting a search-and-rescue operation that involved local fishermen and tugboats passing through the strait. Authorities rescued 31 passengers and crew, found four bodies and declared 15 missing before the search effort concluded. The ship’s captain, who survived the sinking, was named last week as a suspect for transporting passengers without a permit, while the ship’s owner was named as a suspect for hiring crew without the proper qualifications. Fishermen…

LOS ANGELES: Users have to pay more than $100 00 (R1.5 million) to fully upgrade a Diablo Immortal character via microtransactions, analysts say. Legendary Gems, a currency used in the game, and to customise avatars afterwards, cannot be earned by players who do not part with real cash to obtain them. Analysts suggest that to get a character fully levelled-up would cost $110 000 worth of Legendary Gems, which cannot be purchased outside of Legendary Crests, the game’s version of loot boxes. Reddit users say more upgrades are only available when players get their 5-star gems to Rank 10, which is thought to cost up to $40 000. | IANS…

DUBLIN: Ryanair is requiring South African passengers to prove their nationality before travelling by completing a test in Afrikaans, a language used by just by 12% of the South African population. Europe’s largest airline by passenger numbers, which does not operate flights to and from South Africa, said it required any UK-bound passengers from the country to fill in the questionnaire due to a high prevalence of fraudulent South African passports. “If they are unable to complete this questionnaire, they will be refused travel and issued with a full refund,” the Irish airline said. Ryanair said it would apply to any South African passport holder flying to Britain from another part of Europe on the carrier. | Reuters…

It is a massive week for South African rugby as the Stormers and Bulls square up to the might of the Irish in two mouth-watering United Rugby Championship semi-finals, one in Dublin on Friday night and the other in Cape Town on Saturday. Quite obviously, Stormers coach John Dobson is sitting prettier than his Bulls counterpart Jake White, as they contemplate Ulster at Cape Town Stadium and Leinster at the Aviva Stadium, respectively. This was reflected in their early week utterances, with Dobson saying the Stormers just need to stick to what they do best to have a good chance of winning, while White was almost plaintively appealing to the officials to be kinder to the visiting teams in this competition. You can understand the Bull coach’s trepidation after Leinster…

The final round of the Currie Cup takes place this weekend and there is going to be a nervous jostling for places in the semi-finals, especially for the Sharks, who could end up losing out on the play-offs. In a top-of-the-table clash, the Free State Cheetahs host the Bulls in what amounts to a shoot-out for the No 1 position, which is so valuable because it means hosting a final should the No 1-ranked side win their semi-final. The Cheetahs have a home-ground advantage but they need to get back on the horse after losing two in a row following a long unbeaten run. The Sharks are on a losing streak and have to end it away to Western Province if they hope to squeeze into fourth place at the…

THE Robben Island Museum (RIM) will no longer challenge the audit finding that it did not disclose R90.4 million in irregular expenditure when it purchased the 280-seater vessel MV Krotoa. This was revealed by Sport, Arts and Culture Minister Nathi Mthethwa while responding to parliamentary questions. The museum remains defiant about the audit finding and has explained its position in its annual report for 2020-21, where it defended the purchase, saying the boat would benefit it in recovering from the Covid-19 pandemic. The late auditor-general, Kimi Makwetu, found that the purchase of the vessel was irregular as the museum did not disclose the necessary information as required by the Public Finance management Act (PFMA). Makwetu had said the museum management acquired the boat without applying the preference point…

He is on a mission to convince the public to give Metrorail another chance. And although there is no fixed name for his campaign, activist Lorenzo Davids refers to it as “Justice for Public Transport”. Davids started the campaign in January with the documenting of his train journey every morning on Twitter, urging commuters to make use of the rail service as it is cost-effective. The rail service in the province, especially in poorer communities, has been brought to its knees by the torching of trains before the Covid-19 pandemic, vandalism to its infrastructure and the illegal occupation of rail tracks by many who had built dwellings. Commuters are having to spend most of their salary on transport as taxis and buses, due to the rising fuel price, continue to…

THE interfaith vigil held by several remorseful Parkwood residents for slain Bolt driver Abongile Mafalala has been met with widespread mixed reaction, with some saying it was not enough. Residents gathered where the 31-year-old was killed in a tearful ceremony seeking forgiveness on Sunday. This follows the gruesome murder of Mafalala who was allegedly transporting people in the area when he was beaten, stabbed and set alight by a mob in Parkwood who accused him of child kidnapping. Five people charged with murder, robbery with aggravating circumstances and malicious damage to property briefly appeared at the Wynberg Magistrate’s Court over the incident yesterday. National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson Eric Ntabazalila said the case had been postponed to Monday for bail information and for the docket to be sent to the…

State stumbles from mess to mess, each one somehow overriding the last ANOTHER triumph for the hide-and-seek act played by politicians dodging their responsibility to get South Africans out of unemployment, poverty and the many other social ills in our society. Another round of disappointment passes as details of government inefficiency are revealed in the departmental budget votes in legislative bodies, the latest reports on unemployment and crime statistics, and the painful lived experiences of citizens due to failed election promises. The latest employment data, released on May 31 by Statistics South Africa (Stats SA), laid bare the dire state of the economy. While showing that economic activity is broadly normalising from the Covid-19 shock following the removal of most major lockdown restrictions, the returning company profitability is lukewarm. Simultaneously,…

Moscow yesterday condemned the rejection by several European countries of a request for Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov’s plane to pass through their airspace, forcing him to cancel a trip to ally Serbia. “This was a deprivation of a sovereign state of the right to carry out foreign policy,” Lavrov said. Bulgaria, Macedonia and Montenegro refused a request from Russia for Lavrov’s plane to pass through their airspaces on the way to Serbia because of sanctions imposed over Moscow’s military action in Ukraine. Lavrov had been due to hold talks with top officials in Belgrade, one of Moscow’s few remaining allies in Europe since the launch of the offensive in late February. Lavrov described the move as “outrageous”, insisting that Moscow’s relations with Belgrade would not be “destroyed”. He said Moscow…

Former Bihar Chief Minister and Hindustani Awam Morcha chief Jitan Ram Manjhi said yesterday that the liquor ban implemented in the Indian state had led to increased corruption among the police. Manjhi, the 78-year-old veteran Dalit leader, said that instead of banning liquor in the state, awareness must be spread among the people about not consuming it. “In a state like Bihar, awareness among people is more important than prohibition. The state government has banned liquor in Bihar. In the garb of a liquor ban, police personnel wrongly implicate poor people and earn crores of rupees. “It has turned into a money-making tool for police personnel in Bihar and encouraged corruption in the department,” he said. “We often see mass deaths due to the hooch tragedy in Bihar. It is…

MANILA: The Philippines has evacuated over 200 residents to temporary shelters after Bulusan volcano in Sorsogon province spewed ash and steam on Sunday, blanketing nearby towns and villages with ash, authorities said yesterday. Mark Timbal, spokesperson for the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, said evacuation was under way to convince families to leave the area within the 4km danger zone. The Philippine Coast Guard said it helped evacuate 58 families in Juban town after Sunday’s “phreatic eruption”. The volcanology institute said Bulusan volcano continued to emit steam yesterday, and the institute recorded 29 volcanic earthquakes for the past 24 hours. | Xinhua…

LONDON: A rare 1679 violin made by renowned Italian craftsman Antonio Stradivari is headed for auction next month where it could fetch up to $11 million (R169m). The “Hellier” Stradivarius “is the finest inlaid violin ever made by Stradivari and one of the finest Stradivarius instruments in existence”, said auction house Christie’s, offering it as the top lot in its July 7 “The Exceptional Sale”. Engraved with ivory diamonds and finished with a golden varnish, Stradivari kept the instrument for 55 years, selling it in 1734 for £40 to Samuel Hellier of Wombourne, England. Of the roughly 1 100 instruments Stradivari made, only around a dozen are embellished with decoration, Christie’s said. | Reuters…

Rafael Nadal would probably not have played any Grand Slam other than the French Open with the chronic foot injury that needed numbing injections in Paris, the 14-time Roland Garros champion said yesterday. The Spaniard's record-extending triumph on the Paris clay earned him an all-time best 22nd men's singles major with a 6-3, 6-3, 6-0 crushing of Norway's Casper Ruud and put him two titles clear of Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic. It was the 'most unexpected' of his French Open titles, Nadal said yesterday after limping into the scintillating salon of a central Paris hotel. Asked if he would have played any other Grand Slam with the injury that forced him to have injections to numb his foot, Nadal said: "Probably not. "We have been through a lot of…

From page 1 The main question was whether the allegations are true or false, said political analyst Professor Sipho Seepe. “Not reporting a crime is a crime on its own. We don’t have a case number that proves that the matter has been investigated. “Keeping so much money is also criminal or suspect in terms of our law. It creates suspicion of money laundering. “If so much money, which is not denied, comes from income, this income should have been reported to SARS. The more the President responds, the more he entangles himself.”…

The two Houses of Parliament will soon be considering a proposed 3% salary increase for all members of the judiciary, judges and magistrates, backdated to April 2021. This comes after President Cyril Ramaphosa sent the presiding officers draft notices and schedules determining the rate at which salaries, allowances and benefits are payable for members of the judiciary. Ramaphosa sent the documents for the approval of Parliament after the Independent Commission on the Remuneration of Public Office-Bearers made its recommendations. In one of his letters, dated May 26, the president said he received annual salary recommendations for Constitutional Court judges, judges of other courts and other public office bearers from the commission. “Having considered the commission’s recommendations and serious economic challenges facing the country, I am intending to determine a 3%…

THE country’s financial institutions, including the South African Revenue Service (Sars), have remained tight-lipped on whether they would investigate millions of US dollars “concealed”on President Cyril Ramaphosa’s farm before a gang allegedly broke in and stole the money. Pressure continues to mount on Ramaphosa to come clean about the saga, which political analysts say is severely damaging the reputation of the sitting president. Former State Security Head Arthur Fraser lodged a complaint against Ramaphosa for allegedly defeating the ends of justice and kidnapping suspects who were allegedly interrogated, citing breaches of, inter alia, the Prevention of Organised Crime Act, no 121 of 1998 (“POCA”) and the Prevention of Corrupt Activities Act No12 of 2004 (“The Corruption Act”). The millions of US dollars (in excess of US$4 million) were concealed…

CAPE Town City Ballet (CTCB) has hailed its patron, Dr Cornelia (Connie) September, for being awarded her doctoral thesis in education at the age of 61. A passionate philomath, September received her doctoral degree in the Management of Technology and Innovation in Education at the Da Vinci Institute, in Johannesburg, in May. Her thesis was titled, “Public Funding of the College Sector: a social-return-on-investment in higher education in South Africa”. September is one of CTCB’s three patron and a champion of the arts and ballet sectors. She said sessions of the course started in 2019. “I was always interested to learn more to study further, hence obtaining a pre-primary teachers diploma, economic degrees, post-graduate economic policy degrees, Masters in applying technology management in townships, and now PhD in education. Education…

The newly-launched Legal Services Ombudsman has set its sights on the conduct of lawyers and attorneys at the State Capture Commission of Inquiry. The road to the launch was “long and torturous”, said retired Western Cape High Court Judge Siraj Desai, South Africa’s new legal ombudsman. However, it came at a crucial time when the public’s confidence in the legal profession was “at an all-time low” and had to be restored. “The introduction of the Legal Practices Act (LPA) ushered in a new era of regulation for legal practitioners. It abolished the traditional law societies that were previously responsible for disciplining attorneys. A new regulatory body, the Legal Practice Council (LPC), was established, with one of its main aims the regulation of the professional conduct of legal practitioners. “The self-regulatory…

THE devastated family of 23-year-old Vathiswa Langa say their daughter was “at the wrong place at the wrong time” when suspects fired shots at five people, killing three, including herself, in Gugulethu on Sunday. Langa and the two men who have since been identified as Lefa Ngulube, 31, and Kabelo Molelle ,19, were shot dead when gunmen drove past the corners of Malunga Street and NY8 in Malunga Park. Two other men aged 32 and 33 were wounded and transported to a medical facility. Police spokesperson Andrè Traut said a 72-hour activation plan to probe the circumstances leading to the murders and the attempted murder had been implemented. No one has been arrested. He said occupants of a white Toyota Corolla opened fire at a group of people. Langa’s cousin,…

THE Competition Commission needs to investigate the alleged unethical conduct of Comair after angry customers accused the airline of using a sale to raise funds a day before it grounded flights. Last week Comair, which operates Kulula and British Airways flights in the country, announced that it had suspended all flights with immediate effect. However, the move elicited angry reactions from its customers who accused the airline of unethical behaviour by selling tickets at discounted prices before cancelling all its operations. Kulula had offered a winter warmer sale with up to a 30% discount on flights between May 31, 2022, and November 30, 2022. It is unacceptable for airlines that account for roughly 40% of the low-cost flight market in South Africa to behave in such a questionable manner. An…

Mexico’s president’s refusal to attend a US-hosted summit because of disputes over the guest list highlights how Latin America’s leftists are pursuing an increasingly independent foreign policy from Washington. President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador had said he would not go to the Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles this week led by US President Joe Biden unless all governments in the region were asked. Yesterday, he followed through as Washington said it was not inviting its antagonists, Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua, on the grounds of human rights and democratic shortcomings. Lopez Obrador’s firm line over the past few weeks won backing from other left-leaning governments across Latin America eager to stand up to Uncle Sam, fanning diplomatic tensions just as Washington tries to re-engage with its southern neighbours. Luis…

Islamabad: The ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has claimed that Farah Khan, a friend of former first lady Bushra Bibi, was involved in perhaps “Asia’s largest money-laundering scandal”. PML-N leaders played an audio clip involving a property tycoon as purported evidence of the “corruption being done by Imran Khan’s wife, Bushra Bibi, and Farah Khan” when the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf was in power, reports said. Punjab government spokesperson Ataullah Tarar and PML-N provincial information secretary Azma Bukhari alleged that Farah Khan “ruled over the entire country from her office in Punjab” and accumulated “assets worth billions of rupees”. Tarar alleged that she used to “approve transfers and appointments” of government officials in Punjab against hefty payments which were spent on diamonds that were sold in Dubai. He alleged that information about…

WASHINGTON: Three people died and 14 were injured following a shooting outside a nightclub in Chattanooga, Tennessee at the weekend. Two people died from gunshot wounds and a third died after being hit by a vehicle on Sunday, Chattanooga police said. Investigators believe there were multiple shooters. Murphy said the shooting was an “isolated incident” with no ongoing threat to public safety. Last weekend, six teenagers were shot in downtown Chattanooga during a confrontation. The latest shooting in Chattanooga was reported only hours after gunmen opened fire at a crowd in a popular nightlife area in Philadelphia, killing three people while injuring 11. | Xinhua…